Back in May Nintendo was ordered to pay $21 million to Anascape Ltd after infringing on a patent that covers remotes that control six types of motions at the same time.
A Texas court has now rejected Nintendo’s request for a new trial in the case, and announced plans to ban US sales of the Wii Classic controller, WaveBird controller and Nintendo GameCube controller.
However, the ban has been put on hold as Nintendo appeals the decision, with Nintendo forced to post a bond or put royalties in an escrow account to avoid the halt, meaning the company remains free to continue selling the Wii Classic controller in the meantime. The firm no longer produces the GameCube or WaveBird controllers.
Anascape’s lawyer argues that a sales ban is just because the company wishes to enter the peripherals market but Nintendo has “clogged the channel”.
Nintendo’s Wii Remote and Nunchuk controller were found not to violate the patent in question.
Sony licensed the patent from Anascape in 2004 and Microsoft settled a lawsuit in early May just before a trial was due to begin.